Unity’s sister shop could not have found a more perfect location in Auckland. On the 20th of February 1989 it fitted into High Street like a comma in Ulysses. The little street was full of surprising retail options with a pick and mix of shops selling everything in style and fashion to bowl lattēs and local wines. Auckland was lit and Unity offered the best guides to being in the world of books.

The shop's co-managers Nigel Cox and Jo McColl,were fresh from Wellington and ready for business. Nigel agitated for change in outdated importing laws and they went about stocking the shelves with the most covetable selection of hardbacks and paperbacks available. For a short time a ‘reading room’ with percolated coffee was created in the Bunker; an underground space below the shop accessed by steep and treacherous stairs. It wasn’t long before the shop established itself as a hub, a place to exchange ideas and debate the merits of different writers. Conversations carried over from the bar across the road, Nigel waved the flag of New Zealand literature and Jo McColl made sure cowboy novels got premium counter space.

Following Auckland’s snap lockdown in 2021 Unity was only able to partially reopen and books were sold at arm's length. At a time when using a courier meant a delivery delay of weeks, staff used their own means of transport, pedalling books to hotels and driving across the city.

Jo McColl took ownership of the business in 2001. From shop girl to boss girl over the years she has hired dozens and fired none..Unity has overseen romances and lifelong friendships have flourished. In a city of constant change it is still a meeting place, a refuge, an oasis on a busy street where a chance encounter with a page can still change your life.